Re: DoR - New Coach - Investor & Adam - New signings : Tue Dec 24, 2024 2:10 pm  

It’s a tough one, however we are not going to go from 11th to Top 4 in a season. Think we all realistically expect 8th at best next season and then kick on from 2026.

I think Cross will be a decent addition. There appears no scope to add top quality for 2025. As I’ve mentioned before, other than the halves, our Centres have been a real weakness in recent years. Primarily due to fitness, Carlos and Sutty hardly played together and the back up options were not Super League standard.

Cross is a no risk upgrade. He’s played in the Super League and if he’s fit and can give us 20+ games next season, then that gives us some much needed stability and allows a more settled team which in turn should deliver improved results.

I’m sure they’ll be a review if all contracts during 2025. Although not ideal, we now have more funds to move on players if necessary to improve the squad further for 2026.

Re: DoR - New Coach - Investor & Adam - New signings : Tue Dec 24, 2024 6:56 pm  

Rugby Raider wrote:

It’s a tough one, however we are not going to go from 11th to Top 4 in a season. Think we all realistically expect 8th at best next season and then kick on from 2026.

I think Cross will be a decent addition. There appears no scope to add top quality for 2025. As I’ve mentioned before, other than the halves, our Centres have been a real weakness in recent years. Primarily due to fitness, Carlos and Sutty hardly played together and the back up options were not Super League standard.

Cross is a no risk upgrade. He’s played in the Super League and if he’s fit and can give us 20+ games next season, then that gives us some much needed stability and allows a more settled team which in turn should deliver improved results.

I’m sure they’ll be a review if all contracts during 2025. Although not ideal, we now have more funds to move on players if necessary to improve the squad further for 2026.

But we could be in the battle for a top four position in 2026 if we can add three quality players at centre,second and front row.
Lack of real pace is still an issue but a quality centre would give us a decent backline with the two wings we have and Moy/Rapana fighting for the full back role or even moving Rapana to centre.
Adding a couple of big name powerhouses to the forwards would make a huge difference but as i said we cant do any of this for 2026 without moving several of the 2025 signings on and possibly only Sao moving on if Cartwright extends would give us just one quota spot as it stands
Understand adding experience for 2025 to try and stabilize the clubs on field perfomance but there seems no strategy for 2026 given what is likely to be a lack of quota spots.and cap space